Today, materials originating from a plant are used in many applications. If the use of plant based products is intended, e.g. to color items or hair or food or skin because of a preference for natural ingredients, it usually requires specific conditions, such as solvent types, moisture content, temperatures, pH, etc. and can take a considerable time until the final result. Indeed, when a plant product is applied, e.g. in form of a powder, e.g. on hair or skin, two things take place: an extraction of the substance(s) and its fixation on the hair or skin. Actually, it requires a long contact time to obtain a significant result. Moreover, hair or skin can be damaged by substances in the plant such as traces of heavy metals, pesticides, polyphenols. In addition, the quantity of the substance(s) of interest is not necessarily consistent from one application to another due to the variability of the natural ingredient(s). Hence, applying the same amount of a hair coloring product may lead to different results.
The foregoing example is equally true for other uses of plant materials, such as cosmetic, medicinal or dermatologic uses. So far, many substances from plant materials cannot be used in medicinal or dermatologic applications due to the time required for the substance to unfold its effect. In addition, in many applications the concentration of a substance necessary for a certain medicinal or dermatologic effect cannot be achieved or the administration would become difficult, e.g. due to the size of a tablet. Plant materials may release an insufficient amount of substance(s) and/or have a low release rate. Sublingual administration is very often impossible for the same reason. Moreover, in medicinal or dermatologic uses it may be the case that only the combination of more substances or a complex extract of the plant(s) leads to the desired effect. Sometimes it is not entirely known how this combination works and what substances are necessary to achieve the desired effect. In such cases it is desirable to use most or substantially all substances contained in the respective plant(s). On the other hand, it may be desirable to separate certain desired substances from certain undesired substances such as potentially toxic components of the plant.
There is still a need to improve products originating from plant materials for medicinal or cosmetic or coloring or dermatologic use. In particular, it is desirable to control the amount of substances originating from plant materials as well as conditions and time needed to achieve a desired medicinal or cosmetic or coloring or dermatologic effect.